Eclipse

My 2014 (Part 1)

It has been a long time since I' ve written my last report, so to make it up to you I'll write a resume of everything what happened last year climbingwise.

First I started a rope-access training and I started working parttime at CRI rope-access, where I got my IRATA level 1 certificate. Here is a little film of our rope-access training with Don Bosco Wilrijk, on a training day in the new @-height trainingcenter.

March 2014

In March, me and Daan (a rope-access trainee as well) went to Ettringen (Germany) for some crack- and tradclimbing. Good times!

"True romance" 6b (don't mind the rope behind the leg, there wasn't any pro yet) ©Daan Nijs

"Fissure" 6b ©Daan Nijs

April 2014

During springtime I went on a ski-touring course in Switzerland with mountain-guide Helmuth Van Pottelbergh. We learned all the necessary techniques for alpine touring; spitzenkehren, off-piste skiing, glacier rescue, avalanche safety,...  We had a lot of fun and the conditions were just perfect!

Spitzenkehren! ©Helmuth

Great weather, uh?! Exept one day! ©Helmuth

Checking the snow conditions

Planning our trip for the next day (Cab. des Aig. Rouges)

©Helmuth

Some powderturns ©Helmuth

Near the summit of the Pointe de Vouasson. What a view! ©Helmuth

Les aiguilles rouges d' Arolla ©Helmuth

 June 2014

In June we went on a trip to Austria, organised by Don Bosco Wilrijk. We went sportclimbing, multi-pitching and hiking in the ötztal.

Myself working on a 6C+ with Daan on belay duty ©Simon Ruymaekers

Cragging close to Längenfeld

Andreas on the first pitch of "Schwalbennest"

Simon following the first pitch of "Schwalbennest"

A view to Längenfeld from the third belay

Simon found the easy way ;)

Simon shows the summit-logbook

The quest of human flight

Live Fast, Carve Hard!

At the start of the winter I decided, it was really time to learn how to ski! As a mountaineer you should know how to ski, otherwise you have a big disadvantage for winter climbing.

I knew there were some good skiers among my fellow students, so I teamed up with two of them: Vincent Van Houtte and Hans Van Den Bosch. We chose the ski trip of Apolloon, our students association, because of the relatively low cost. (Later we discovered the organization sucked badly!) Our trip started on the first of February and we returned on the tenth of February.

Vincent and Hans enjoying the snow!

Airtime!

The weather wasn't perfect all the time. Most of the time the visibility was very poor and it snowed a lot, but I don't make complaints about it! The snow conditions where perfect! Almost every day around twenty centimeters of fresh powder!

Thanks to my friends, I made a lot of progress! They taught me how to ski parallel in the first few hours! I also took ski classes every day. Eventually I was able to ski black pistes and I did some off-piste runs as well.

Apart from the skiing, we had some fun during the après ski and on the parties (although not everyone was able to go to the party after the après ski ;) ) 

©Hans VD Bosch

On a freezing cold morning!
©Hans VD Bosch

Cboys!
©Lieselot Saelens

Valmeinier by night

Special thanks go to:

• Hans and Vincent: because you guys rock!
• Our Economica roommates: because we laughed a lot together! Especially Ruìz: You're funny when you're drunk!
• The girls next door: for their knowledge of dishwashers!